Democrat Barbara LaWall, the first woman elected to the office
of Pima County Attorney, seeks her fourth term in a challenge from
Republican Brad Roach, a former deputy county attorney.

Roach levies his criticisms of LaWall, and she responds to each
one.

“My opponent just makes allegations and throws them out there,”
said LaWall.

Roach, managing partner for the law firm Leonardo and Roach,
describes his former boss as “absent.”

“The only time you ever saw her was when something hit the
newspaper, and you got called up to the 14th floor,” where LaWall’s
office was located, Roach said.

“I don’t want to let that go unchallenged,” said LaWall, who
describes long hours with no vacations. “The absences, if any, have
been because I’ve been taking care of business” by meeting with
other state law enforcement people to discuss common concerns.

“Those are not junkets, but they do take me out of the office,”
she said. “It’s official business, exactly what the folks in Pima
County want their prosecutor to be engaged in doing.”

Roach claims morale is low in the department. “A large portion
of your job is leadership,” Roach said, making sure deputy
attorneys are “out doing their job right, and are happy.”

“They want to be public servants, for the same reason people
join the military and the police force,” Roach said. “They get
disillusioned by the current county attorney.”

“I have consistently demonstrated leadership, a commitment to
prosecution, a commitment to public safety and service,” LaWall
said. She lauds her staff of 100 attorneys and related employees as
“very hard-working.” Criminal lawyers “burn the midnight oil, they
are dedicated, they are our newest and greenest attorneys. They
learn really fast.” And the civil division “is very busy, very
active.

“One can’t do some of the programs that I’ve done, and
creatively and effectively manage the operation for the office,
without being a strong leader,” LaWall said.

She speaks with pride about a number of programs, among them the
Southern Arizona Children’s Advocacy Center, which was dedicated
this week.

“It is an incredible collaboration and a fabulous building,”
said LaWall. Abused children can be “treated in a non-traumatic
fashion by all the different agencies who are housed there,” among
them health care providers, law enforcement, prosecutors and Child
Protective Services personnel. “Everybody’s going to be there, and
we get to deal with the victimization of that child in a
collaborative fashion.”

The effort goes back years. “It’s taken a very long time to make
this happen. It’s one of the things I’m extraordinarily proud
of.”

She also points to programs to divert juvenile offenders,
holding them accountable, applying sanctions and building their
skills, competencies and resilience.

“More than 90 percent of kids who go through that program never
come back to the juvenile justice program,” LaWall said.

The county attorney’s bad check system has returned more than
$10 million to small business owners. “It’s made a really
significant difference to individuals in our community,” at no cost
to the taxpayer, she said.

The county’s long-standing victim witness program continues to
evolve. “Our victim witness program is on the cutting edge of what
victim witness programs are all about. We should be extraordinarily
proud.” She is “regionalizing it,” opening satellite offices in the
Northwest, and in Green Valley.

Roach claims endorsements from people in law enforcement.

“It’s startling, the 12-year incumbent does not have a single
law enforcement group backing her up,” Roach said. “I think that
tells the story right there.”

LaWall said Roach has “union endorsements. I have the
endorsement of the governor, the attorney general, several of the
elected prosecutors, and the law enforcement leaders and policy
makers in this state.”

“I would actively target the 10 percent of criminals committing
85 percent of the crimes,” Roach said. “I hear law enforcement say
‘I’m tired of arresting the same guy eight times.’ It takes more
than what I call a kind of stone-age prosecution ideas. We have the
technology and the information systems to be much more
sophisticated in our targeting of people, rather than a ‘one size
fits all mentality’ which is true of Barbara LaWall.”

“We target the most serious, the most dangerous, the most
violent offenders, and we put them away for the longest period of
time to create the kind of public safety this community demands,”
LaWall said. “Those are the top 10 or 15 percent of the folks
committing most of the crimes. We’ve been doing that ever since
I’ve been in the county attorney’s office, which has been 32 years.
I’m proud of the fact 70 percent of all the trials we have are of
that nature.” She points to a conviction rate of 93.8 percent.

LaWall claims a further crackdown on gun crimes, primarily the
illegal possession of weapons by people who are “either prohibited
from owning a weapon, or who are picked up with an illegal weapon,
because those are among the most dangerous and violent folks.” She
cites increased numbers of arrests, convictions and sentences for
gun crimes. “We’re doing some pretty smart targeting,” she
said.

Roach said he could manage the department’s $30 million annual
budget. “A wise man doesn’t know everything, but he knows where to
look and who to ask,” he said. “I’m not concerned with the
administrative portion of the job. People who will stay are very
knowledgeable and can be easily transferred.”

“He has no administrative and management experience to make any
sound policy to protect the public safety,” LaWall said. “I run a
very cost-effective, efficient office. We haven’t once gone over
budget in the 12 years I’ve been in the leadership. We have been
very effective.”

The attorney’s office “could always use more” prosecutors, Roach
said, but “no government agency can expect to expand right now.
It’s her political actions that take up a lot of the time of the
county attorney. She has them go to trial in cases that don’t need
to go to trial, rather than targeting the people we really should
be targeting.”

She said her office sends a higher percentage to prison than any
other prosecutor in Arizona. “I think my record is outstanding on
that.”